Bad publicity hurts.

The New York Stock Exchange listed e-commerce giant Alibaba lost $11 billion in market value on Wednesday as it stepped into a high-profile war of words with the national market regulator over alleged sales of substandard and fake commodities on its online shopping platform, taobao.com.

No wonder the country's No 1 e-commerce giant appears beside itself, and poised for a fight with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.